Thursday, November 3, 2011

White Poisons

Most people put poisons into their body every day and don't realize it. They consume foods that are toxic and which cause poor health, but have no idea how much damage they are doing. There are four white poisons I want to talk about today that you should avoid. They are white sugar, white flour, milk and it's byproducts, and table salt.

Sugar
First of all, sugar is a major factor in poor health. Robert Lustig, MD. gave a lecture about this in 2009 that has been reported on in the New York Times and featured on You Tube. Most nutrition experts agree with him. Sugar can cause diseases like atherosclerosis, multiple sclerosis,
Alzheimer's, rectal cancer, hemorrhoids, and many other health
problems. Nancy Appleton, PhD. lists 143 reasons sugar ruins your health. She's right, and just think of all the sugar in the western diet. Whether it's cookies, soft drinks, cakes, chocolate, or breakfast cereal, you will find sugar in just about every meal that westerners consume.

Even many of the so-called healthy alternatives contain sugar. For example, look at the ingredients on a commercial box of soy milk or commercial almond milk, and you will find sugar.

But it's not just refined sugar that's bad for you. There are many forms of sugar, including glucose and fructose. Fructose is contained in fruit juices, even the ones that have no sugar added. And when you consume it in high quantities, it's not healthy. Since all fruits contain sugar, it's best to eat the fruits raw in their whole form, and limit your daily intake. This will lower the amount of fructose you consume, rather than squeezing out the juice and drinking it.

Many of the carbohydrates we eat are converted into sugars in your body when digested, and this has an overall net affect on your health, which is not good for you when you combine it with all the other sugars you consume directly. For example, when you eat potatoes, carrots, and even grains contained in bread and cereals, your adding to your sugar intake.

I think this is one of the major causes of obesity in America today, so if you care about your health, cut out the direct intake of refined sugar, including white sugar, brown sugar, and raw sugar. Use a little bit of honey as a sweetener instead. And limit your consumption of carbohydrates that turn into sugar inside your body.

Milk
Another white poison is milk and all its byproducts. It's horrible and will kill your family. According to Robert Cohen's "Not Milk" website, this is a bad news substance that has been linked to acne, arthritis, allergies, asthma, autism, breast cancer, constipation, Crohn's disease, depression, irritable bowels, lactose intolerance, Lou Gehrig's disease, migraines, multiple sclerosis, obesity, osteoporosis, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, and many other diseases. I've researched this out thoroughly and found that what Cohen says it true.

Eighty percent of the protein in milk is casein. This substance is very harmful to your body. It's the same glue used to hold your furniture together and to affix labels to beer bottles. When you consume it, your body creates histamines and it generates lots of mucus. And the pasteurization process renders casein into an inorganic substance that cannot be digested. So it doesn't do your body any good to drink milk.

And just think of all the dairy westerners consume each day. In addition to drinking milk directly, it's an ingredient in many of the processed foods you eat. Then there are all the cheese products in foods like cheeseburgers, pizza and lasagna. There's all the butter you use for cooking, put on your toast and in your recipes.

A great case in point concerning the harmful effects of dairy is the Scandanavians. Denmark, Norway, Holland, and Sweden have the highest rates of osteoporosis as well as breast cancer. There is also a high prevalence of cardiovascular disease (coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension). Dairy products (from cows, goats, and reindeer) are heavily consumed. In addition to drinking milk, Scandanavians also have a high intake of sour cream, buttermilk, and cheese. Cheese is generally served at every meal. This should help you to see how dangerous this substance is to your body.

If you are concerned about getting enough calcium, you should know
that protein inhibits your body's ability to absorb calcium, and milk is
liquid protein. So it's not the best source of calcium. If would like
to find good, healthy sources of calcium, then check out this chart.

I've done the research and I say one of the best things you can do for your health is get rid of the dairy.

Salt
Typical salt is "chemically cleaned". This is another deadly substance. When you consume processed table salt, you do a lot of harm to your body. Over time, you increase your blood pressure and cause a hardening of the arteries.

You'll find refined salt in most of the foods you eat as part of a western diet. And most of the common salts have toxic chemicals that pollute your body. You can read more about this from Bee Wilder. But what your body needs are salts that have not been processed with chemicals, such as unrefined sea salt or naturally harvested Himalayan salt, which contain many trace minerals needed for optimal health. You would do yourself a favor if you switch to real salt and avoid foods containing refined salt.

White Flour
This is the last one I will discuss. White flour is made from whole grains that have been processed. This process renders the grain devoid of most of its nutrients. To further add insult to injury, chlorine is used as an industry standard chemical agent to bleach the flour, which gives it a longer shelf life and removes the odor. This is the same chemical in the bleach you use to remove stains from your laundry. Dr. Joseph Mercola explains this process and why white flour is bad for you, especially bleached white flour.

What you end up with is a food that is full of empty calories. And you'll find white flour in breads, dumplings, pastas, and all sort of baked goods. This is another food to avoid, if you care about your health. Replace it with wheat flour, which has not been bleached.

Putting it All Together
Now that I've shown you why these four substances are toxic, stop and think about how the western culture promotes their consumption beyond even the normal daily diet. In the Spring, people consume high quantities of these poisons around Easter time and Mother's Day. In the summer, these are part of graduation parties, picnics and holiday parties like Father's Day, Memorial Day, and Independence Day. In the fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving give people another reason to indulge in these poisons. And then in the winter, you've got more opportunities to do so at Christmas, New Years, and Valentines Day. In between all those, you have all the birthday parties. It's no wonder westerners are so sick and diseased when we regularly consume so much poison in our diet.

I want to be clear that I am not forbidding anybody from eating these foods. "For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving..." (1 Ti 4:4). You can eat them if you like, but I am simply presenting facts about them, so that you can make wise decisions for the sake of your health and that of your family.

If you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Bible says that your body is a member of Christ (1 Co 6:15). That means you should take good care of it. If you would like to take a step toward improving your health, then begin cutting these white poisons out of your diet and replacing them with healthy, nutritious alternatives.

Author's note: This post is part of a series. If you enjoyed it, you may also like the other posts in this blog available
through the links in the side bar, such as Some Foods Damage and Others Heal and The Benefits of Eating Well. You may also access my blog
directory at "Writing for the Master." The views expressed in this blog are not intended as medical advice to treat any condition. Rather they are my personal opinions based on my own research, and do not necessarily represent the views of Doulos Missions International.

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Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.
He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as
well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who
multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of
planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United
States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.